JOHANNESBURG – The Gauteng education department believes the Constitutional Court should pronounce once and for all on the issue surrounding the admission of English pupils to the Afrikaans Hoerskool Overvaal in Vereeniging to put an end to the controversy as soon as possible.
The department has applied for leave to appeal directly to the Constitutional Court against a ruling by the High Court in Pretoria which set aside the department’s directive that the school must admit 55 English medium pupils this year, thus making it a dual medium school
Head of department, Edward Mosuwe, sited the sustained controversy, racially polarized confrontation and demonstrations, which has led to bloodshed, among the reasons why it was in the interest of justice for the Constitutional Court to hear the appeal.
Mosuwe mentioned that the department needed to bring calm to the situation at the school, which is likely to erupt again at any moment where the unfortunate incidents around the admissions process at the school was repeated in next year’s admissions process either at Overvaal or at any other school in the province.
The decision sparked public interest to protect other pupils in 2019 from suffering the same fate in court hearings.
“They’re entitled to a final decision that will ensure that they know where they stand in time to act on that knowledge at the start of the 2019 school year,” Mosuwe said.
Photo Credits – The New Age
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